Bipartisan pressure grows for investigations as resignation calls mount on Huang
Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chris Coons of Delaware have asked the Trump administration to preserve all documents tied to Nvidia’s chip exports to China and to Chief Executive Jensen Huang’s affair with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset, the latest indication that lawmakers are preparing detailed investigations of the matter.
The Democrats made the request in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Stephen Miller. They asked the officials to confirm by Tuesday that they directed staff to keep all communications, records and other materials connected to the episode.
The move comes as Nvidia’s board was preparing to oust Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Warren and Coons cited their roles as the incoming heads of the Banking and Foreign Relations Committees, which oversee investigations and bills affecting sensitive technology exports and national-security concerns.
“This incident raises significant concerns about the federal government’s ability to effectively enforce our export controls and protect our national security,” Warren and Coons wrote in the letter.
The senators asked for all security and intelligence materials involving the suspected Chinese intelligence operation and Huang; communications between Nvidia and the administration, including interactions involving Huang and Trump; and documents related to chip export control policy.
Document preservation letters often serve as an initial step before formal congressional investigations. The Nvidia-related push coincides with a series of similar letters being sent to companies across industries and to other organizations with close ties to the Trump administration.
Lawmakers from both parties are calling for an investigation into the chip export and policy decisions involving Huang, who lobbied the president to allow Nvidia to send chips directly to China while having an affair with a business partner suspected of working with Chinese intelligence.
The breadth of the requests shows lawmakers seeking information about possible conflicts of interest as well as security violations. Huang developed a close relationship with Trump and frequently lobbied him directly about chip exports and artificial-intelligence policy.
Warren and Coons are among the lawmakers who were critical of Huang over the past two years and of the Trump administration’s decisions to let Nvidia send chips directly to China and to other countries the lawmakers view as posing security risks, such as the United Arab Emirates.
Calls inside Washington for Huang to resign were mounting early Wednesday, coming from Republican allies of the president, including Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, and Sen. Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota, a top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees export controls.
In the House, Republicans had called on Huang to brief lawmakers next week on his relationship with Alice Huang, a former top executive at Singapore-based data-center company Megaspeed International, and said they are open to using subpoenas to compel his appearance. They include Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, who said in an interview with The Journal that there have been longstanding concerns about Nvidia’s sales relationships with China and other countries.
“Nvidia is often a huge part of this conversation,” Mast said. Mast and many of the same lawmakers are pushing measures to restrict the shipment of AI chips to China and other countries of concern.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, Republican of Washington, who sponsored one of the export bills, said, “In China, Jensen Huang is referred to as ‘Black Jacket’ for the motorcycle jacket he typically wears.” He added, “I sincerely hope Congress isn’t going to have to make him switch to prison pinstripes and that we do not find out that his mistress being a Chinese spy led to violation of U.S. espionage or export control law.”